A morality challenged bunch at the Oscars

[septimus_...@q.com]

[septimus_...@q.com]

_Zero Dark Thirty_ is literally being defamed for
supposedly endorsing torture. Opinion pieces in
the NYT has assailed the film for glorifying the
killing of Bin Laden, even though it does nothing
of the sort. Action/war film fans that I know are
sorely disappointed by the unheroic killing scene;
the ending of the film is decidedly downbeat, asking
the question where we go from here. Bigelow has
even publicly denounced torture. At the same time,
ZDT is criticized for distorting history.

But maybe it is a good exercise to look at the
less-than-stellar moral compass of the filmmakers
and films being nominated for best picture/director.
Michael Hanake (_Amour_) hardly needs an introduction;
he is part of the original art-house torture-porn
all-star team, with gems like the home-invasion-
glorifying _Funny Games_ (remade unapologetically
scene by scene himself for the American audience),
_The Piano Teacher_ (Isabelle Huppert degrading
herself), _The Seventh Continent_ (which expresses
his implacable hatred for all men, women, children,
and supermarket cashiers), and many others. There
is Tarantino (_Django Unchained_), whose _Reservoir
Dog_ is another fore-runner of torture-as-entertainment,
and whose _Pulp Fiction_ (anal rape fantasy) was sadly
awarded a Cannes award over Kieslowski's humanistic
triumph _Red_ -- the greatest film of all time.
More than anything, this represents the beginning
of the end of the golden age of humanistic cinema.
There is Ang Lee, whose refusal to show Japanese
collaborator Tony Leung's torture of Chinese resistant
fighters in _Lust, Caution_ makes Leung's character
seem like a tortured dark-knight when he is really
just a despicable war-criminal. Ben Affleck's
_The Town_ is an amazing glorification of criminals
who engage in cold-blooded murder, knee-capping,
and brazen gun-fights in broad daylight -- regardless
of collateral damage to innocent passerbys, to say
nothing of the death toll on policemen. Even
Spielberg's _Lincoln_ (according to the Harper's
editorial) may have too readily excused corruption
and the role of money in politics -- not exactly
what we need in today's Congress!

I haven't seen any of the nominees other than ZDT.
I'll eventually see _Lincoln_ (maybe even today)
and _Amour_ but probably not the others. But it
seems there is plenty of dirty hands and guilty
conscience to spread around on this Oscar night.